Teaching by: Chan Master Miao-Tien, Forty-eighth Patriarch of the lineage of the Linji Order of Chan, the Fifty-eighth Patriarch since Master Bodhidharma, and the Eighty-fifth Patriarch since Shakyamuni Buddha.
Translated to English: Dr Jerome
佛告须菩提：
‘凡所有相，皆是虚妄。
若见诸相非相，
则见如来。’
The Buddha said to Subhuti:
“All formations, in reality unreal
When all formations are seen as unreal,
thus see the Tathāgata.”
All the things that we see around us are empty in nature, unreal and delusive. They are manifestations of emptiness. Why? For instance, this pot of flower on the table may be beautiful today but it will decay in a few days time. It will no longer exist. Perhaps, next week, someone will have the flower changed to another pot. Human life is the same. It is temporary. If we want to use our remaining time to cultivate to see the Buddha, relying solely on prostrating and chanting to the Buddha is not enough.
I used to say a joke about chanting. There was one practitioner who saw Buddha Amituofo in meditation and the Buddha was chanting his own name. The practitioner was very curious and asked the Buddha, “Why are you chanting Amituofo when you are Buddha Amituofo?” Buddha Amituofo answered, “ Instead of relying on others, why not rely on myself!” From this story, we can see that cultivation is not only about physical prostrations and chanting but also need to add on meditation and cultivating wisdom.
“When all formations are seen as unreal, thus see the Tathāgata.” means those things that you see with different shapes and forms, all manifestations in this physical world, are self delusion, person delusion, living beings delusion and life delusion. If we can destroy and empty this delusion, and yet not attach to them, then we can see the Buddha.
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